As a nurse, you’ll have a major impact on people’s lives and help them to feel better both physically and mentally. Without nurses, our healthcare system would descend into chaos – they’re the essential cogs that keep the system up and running.

To become a nurse you’ll need to take a course approved by the Nursing and Midwifery council (NMC), which will typically last for three or four years on a full-time basis. These courses will also involve elements of work experience and shadowing placements that will help you to secure a job at the end of your studies.

You will usually train within one of the following four fields: adult nursing, children’s nursing, learning disability nursing or mental health nursing. Sometimes courses are geared towards one of these specialisms from the first year, so make sure you have done your research beforehand.

After this, there are a huge number of areas that nurses can go into such as sexual health, mental health, accident and emergency, clinical, or paediatric. Although each of these will have slightly different demands, nurses across the board have to be caring, resilient and dedicating to delivering the best level of care possible to a patient through assessing, diagnosing, planning and evaluating treatment.

In a hospital nurses work in teams to make sure that continual care is delivered to patients. You may have to do patient handovers at the end of your shift and you will have to keep on top of multiple cases at the same time.

Nurses are required 24/7 in a hospital, so in this environment you can expect shift work that may involve unsociable hours, but you will be paid more for these. Other external clinics and GP surgeries tend to have a more typical 9-5 working day.

There is an incredible demand on the healthcare service that means a qualified nurse will not usually struggle to find a job. Over 90% of graduate nurses find employment just six month after graduating.

Skills & interests required for a career in Nursing

Nurses can have very hectic work schedules, particularly if they work within a hospital. The nature of nursing work can often mean you’re on your feet for long periods of time, which will be physically draining.

You’ll be working with people from all walks of life and it’s important that you’re able to be sensitive to people’s needs. Nurses need excellent communication skills and the ability to calm people down in situations that can be highly stressful and emotional.

Nurses have to be caring and resilient as the environment can be quite emotionally and mentally challenging. At the same time, they report some of the highest levels of job satisfaction because of how much difference they make to patients.- Ability to Work Under Pressure- Adaptability- Determination- Leadership- Problem Solving- Teamwork

Graduate schemes & other typical career progression routes in Nursing

After some experience in a general nursing role you can usually choose to specialise in an area that interests you the most, such as intensive care, child nursing or occupational health. Some choose to pursue clinical nursing, but this often requires further training.

Within the NHS nurses’ career progression is set by bands, which mean that moving your career forward is quite clear. After qualifying you will enter at band 5 and can progress from there.

Also, all nurses must go through a revalidation process every three years. As the healthcare industry develops rapidly, this ensures that your knowledge and skills are kept up to date and you can provide the best possible care for patients.

Tips for getting into the field

You could volunteer at a local charity or care facility that will provide you with some work experience within the field of nursing that you’d like to go in. Most healthcare facilities are stretched for staff and resources and welcome some extra help from volunteers.

How much can graduates earn in Nursing?

Within the NHS, nursing positions are divided into bands and each band has a different salary range. A qualified nurse begins at band 5 and can work their way up.

Private nurses will likely have different rates of pay to this and salaries will depend upon the practice that you are working in.

What qualifications do I need for a career in Nursing?

The requirements to get onto a nursing course vary between universities, but typically you will need three A-levels and GCSEs in English, maths and a science. Some universities also specify that at least one of the A-levels should be a science or a social science.

If you do not have the right subjects to get onto the nursing courses, some universities offer a foundation year, but you will have to check their website to see if this is possible.